UGC releases MANF scholarship notification for minority students

Announcement regarding fellowship for minority students in MPhil / Ph.D degree was released by UGC. Last date for application is December 31st.

Notification regarding the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) for the year 2018-19 was released by University Grants Commission yesterday. According to the announcement, all candidates belonging to one of the minority communities who are enrolled for full time research programmes with UGC NET or CSIR-NET can apply for the scholarships now.

Apparently there was some discrepancy in the notification released earlier by UGC and they have made changes in the new notification. A NDTV report says that the earlier notification released by UGC offered only two editions of NET exam conducted by CSIR NET. Meaning Humanities candidates were excluded and could not apply for the fellowship. But after students and student organisations complained UGC made changes and included it in the new notification.

The first notification had prescribed qualifying “CBSE-UGC-NET/JRF/CSIR-NET/JRF held in December 2017 and June 2018” as criteria for the scholarship, the report adds. CSIR NET is conducted for the Science students while UGC NET is organised for the students belonging to Humanities background.

It is in fact after a two year interval that UGC has invited applications for the award of 1000 fellowships (an increase from 756) under the MANF scheme. Last date for receipt of applications is December 31, 2018 and it can be submitted through the link: https://ugc.ac.in/ugc_schemes/

“All candidates who belong to one of the minority communities i.e. Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Christian and Jain and who are enrolled for full time MPhil / Ph.D degree in Indian Universities/ Institutions/ Colleges recognized under Section 2(f) and Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956 and CBSE/NTA-UGC-NET/JRF or CSIR-NET/JRF may apply,” said the latest notice.